A 51-year-old civil servant, Babatunde Ojulari, has lost four teeth during fisticuffs with his neighbour, Sunday Akinola.
It was learnt that Ojulari’s wife had complained to him that Akinola barged into the toilet in their residence on Akala Street, Idi-Oro, Mushin, Lagos, without tendering an apology when he saw her there.
It was said Ojulari was reporting Akinola to his wife when the suspect came out from his room and challenged him, which led to a duel between them. Ojulari’s four teeth were yanked out during the duel.
A Punch correspondent gathered that the victim was taken to a hospital for treatment, while Akinola was arrested after the incident was reported to the police.
“On Friday, January 8, 2016, my wife complained that Sunday (Akinola) barged in while she was in the toilet. Our neighbours and I begged her. Two days after, I informed Sunday’s wife about what he did. We were on it when he showed up. He punched me and hit me with an iron rod. I lost four of my teeth in the process. He was not remorseful. He still threatened to kill me,” Ojulari told the police.
Helen, the wife of 42-year-old Akinola, said it was Ojulari, who attacked her husband after a long argument. She, however, admitted that the complainant’s teeth were yanked out by her husband, adding that she had begged the Ojularis.
She said, “Mr. Babatunde (Ojulari) is our co-tenant and we have been living together for six years. I was at home with my husband, who was sick on that day, when I heard a woman singing a song to abuse me. When I came out, I saw Mr. Babatunde and he asked me whether I heard about what happened between his wife and my husband. My husband came out and told me to go inside. It was at this point that both of them started exchanging words which led to the fight. It was Mr. Babatunde that first gave my husband a blow. He (Akinola) responded and punched him in the mouth which made his four teeth fall off. I want the police to settle this matter. I have been sending people to beg the Ojularis on my family’s behalf.”
A police prosecutor, Inspector Benson Emuerhi, brought Akinola before an Ikeja Magistrate’s Court on one count of assault.
The charge read, “That, you, Sunday Akinola, on January 10, 2016, at about 9.30am on Akala Street, Idi-Oro, Mushin, Lagos, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did unlawfully give a fist blow to one Babatunde Ojulari in his mouth and removed four of his teeth, which caused him grievous harm, thereby committing an offence punishable under Section 243 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State Nigeria, 2011.”
The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charge and was admitted to bail by the Chief Magistrate, Mrs. O.A. Olayinka, in the sum of N100,000 with two sureties in like sum. The case was adjourned till March 15, 2016.
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